Democrats Abandon Their Massachusetts Candidate [OPINION]

Winning the Democrat Party nomination for governor in Massachusetts should be a real winner in this time of Trump and the “blue wave” of Democrat enthusiasm. So what has happened?

Jay Gonzalez must feel a lot like Mike Damone from the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High these days. He famously says, “I woke up in such a great mood today. I don’t know what the hell happened.” Damone’s car and his school locker had been vandalized and he almost got into a fistfight his with his best friend. Jay won the nomination of his party and I’m sure he is wondering what the hell happened to his fellow Democrats and his political career.

Not only are the Democrats doing nothing or worse for their nominee, but the Republicans are also pulling out all the stops to curb-stomp him. Gonzalez is out on the battlefield without any bullets, and some of the ammunition he was counting on is being given to his Republican opponent. Dozens of elected Democrats in Massachusetts are publicly supporting Charlie Baker. Traditional donors to the Democrat Party have written checks to advance the political career of Baker this cycle.

There was supposed to be a huge surge in Democrats defeating Republicans this year because of Donald Trump. And Elizabeth Warren is on the ballot and sure to bring out a large number of Democrats, according to media reports and public polls. I’m confident all of this was factored into the plan of Jay Gonzalez when he quit his job as the head of a health insurance company to run for the job his former boss, Deval Patrick, held prior to Baker winning four years ago.

Charlie Baker has received millions of dollars from a legal political action committee set up by the Republican Party to support its candidates for governor across the nation. The Democrats have the same legal PAC as the GOP. The Democrats have given exactly nothing from their governor supporting PAC to assist their Massachusetts candidate.

The biggest donor to Gonzalez is the taxpayer. The legislature set up a fund for the taxpayers to voluntarily divert a dollar from their tax obligation to a fund for political candidates to tap into to finance their commercials and pay their staff. The fund gave the Democrat candidate over $290,000 in July.

I actually feel bad for Jay Gonzalez.

Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.